If parents pass away do kids get the property

[WilliamCave]

Hi

I am trying to get an answer if my wife amd I as an example pass away from an accident or something. What would happen to our houses ? We have 2 kids 16 and 14 

Do the kids automatically get the property in there name? 
there is insurance on one of them that it is payed off of my wife dies . And she has death insurance also would pay out. And would my kids get that ?The others are owned there are 4 property in total .

hard to get a straight answers 

thx Bill 

[sirineou]

The kids get the house. 

Both of my wife's Father and Mother passed away with in a year from each other. My wife and her sister got the property. Also the sisters got the money from insurance the Mom had.

[ezzra]

You be well advised to prepare a living will have it witnessed and kept with a trusted family member of friend whereby you make sure that your wishes are fulfilled and carried out to the fullest...

[Peterw42]

In the absence of a will stating otherwise, the children would inherit the house. Always a good idea to have a will in place anyway, then there is no misunderstanding or others making a claim etc

Any insurance policies would usually have specific named beneficiary's or would pay to the estate then be inherited.

[WilliamCave]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

The kids get the house. 

Both of my wife's Father and Mother passed away with in a year from each other. My wife and her sister got the property. Also the sisters got the money from insurance the Mom had.

Were the kids under age at the time the parents passed away ?

[WilliamCave]

I am going to talk to my wife about that tonight to get a will done ASAP so there is no dispute. I read that the kids would need a person to over see the property u til they become 20 even though the propert would be in there name is that correct? 

[Mike Rodik]

family will come and help the children for a "fee"

[TigerandDog]

11 hours ago, Peterw42 said:

In the absence of a will stating otherwise, the children would inherit the house. Always a good idea to have a will in place anyway, then there is no misunderstanding or others making a claim etc

Any insurance policies would usually have specific named beneficiary's or would pay to the estate then be inherited.

Just make sure the will is in both Thai & English

[sirineou]

11 hours ago, WilliamCave said:

Were the kids under age at the time the parents passed away ?

Hmm, That i a good question. The short answer is I don't know, both my wife and her sister were adults. 

I am sure it will transfer to them, but a guardian must be appointed until such time they come of age, 

It is a good idea to have a will, that appoints a guardian of your choice, one you trust, and is suree wants the job . Both me and my now ex-wife, when we were married and had a daughter had done so.  

[Peterw42]

18 minutes ago, TigerandDog said:

Just make sure the will is in both Thai & English

Would there be any advantage to having a Thai will also written in English ? I presume the OP is talking about Thai children inheriting property in Thailand from a Thai parent.

[Tropicalevo]

It is not that straight forward.

My wife passed away suddenly, with no will. We have property etc in Thailand. We are both born in the UK.

I went to court in order to claim her estate.

The law said that her estate was to be shared between me, her parents and her siblings. They could all make a claim on her estate.

The court wanted to make a video conference call to her family to check and ask if they wanted to claim.

This was not possible as not all of her family have computers/smart phones. The court happily accepted letters from the family (including family tree, passport photos, wedding/birth certificates etc etc).

The estate was handed over to me . No problem, just a lot of time.

Make a will and save a lot of hassle.

 

[TigerandDog]

38 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

Would there be any advantage to having a Thai will also written in English ? I presume the OP is talking about Thai children inheriting property in Thailand from a Thai parent.

If you're a foreigner you need to have both

[khunPer]

16 hours ago, WilliamCave said:

And would my kids get that ?The others are owned there are 4 property in total .

hard to get a straight answers 

The best you can do is to make Last Wills, one for each of you. It's a fairly simple process, where you actually just need to clearly write in simple language, what you want shall happen, if you don't wish to involve a lawyer. You can go to the amphor (district office) with two witnesses /remember copy of ID or passport) and sign the wills there, and get it notarized by the amphor, and choose if you wish to keep wills on file there, or keep them at home. A foreigner can write a legal will in the foreigner's own language.

 

When there is no will, order of distribution of assets is:

1. Children, included adopted and children born under unregistered marriage confirmed by father, grandchildren
2. Parents
3. Brothers and sisters of the same parents

If you are survived by your spouse and children, the spouse receives 50% and the children 50%, divided equally between children and grandchildren.

 

If you die with no surviving spouse, the children and parents receive the estate in equal shares.

(Simplified quoted from source: Thai Law for Foreigners).

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

Just make sure the will is in both Thai & English

 

And keep in mind who now legally/officially owns the land and the houses, therefore who can legally indicate who inherits the land and the buildings (and all other items, vehicles, and whatever). 

 

Assuming that you are not a Thai citizen you cannot own land, therefore you can't give the land to anybody verbally or in a will, because you don't own it.

 

That assumes the land title documents are in your wife's name, therefore it is your wife who must (in a will) indicate you gets the land. 

 

As already said the Commercial code of Thailand * sets out who inherits what upon a Thai citizens death. But that's only in a case where there is no will. In other words the owner of any form of property can override the law by writing a will.

 

Further:

Thai children (under 20 years old) can be included as beneficiaries in a Thai will. 

Thai children (under 20 years old) can be the owners of land and buildings. Their names can be put on chanuts (Land Title documents). 

Thai children includes luk krueng children (Mother is a Thai citizen, father is a foreigner, and opposite.)  

 

The above can be children of any age up to 20 years old. On 20th birthday they are officially adults.

 

 

(* At the front of the forums section here on ThaiVisa there a section with a number of Thai laws in English, including the Commercial Code of Thailand.)

 

 

[scorecard]

4 hours ago, TigerandDog said:

If you're a foreigner you need to have both

The advantage is that the foreigner involved can read the document (assuming that the foreigner cannot read Thai language script). There is no law or regulation saying that a will made by a Thai citizen cannot be in both languages.

 

At some amphur offices some staff can help with writing wills. Beware of this, 99% of these folks have no knowledge of the laws that may well be involved or how to properly structure the document so that it would be accepted by a court. Ask them questions and they will make up an answer 'which sounds nice'. 

[scorecard]

46 minutes ago, scorecard said:

 

And keep in mind who now legally/officially owns the land and the houses, therefore who can legally indicate who inherits the land and the buildings (and all other items, vehicles, and whatever). 

 

Assuming that you are not a Thai citizen you cannot own land, therefore you can't give the land to anybody verbally or in a will, because you don't own it.

 

That assumes the land title documents are in your wife's name, therefore it is your wife who must (in a will) indicate you gets the land. 

 

As already said the Commercial code of Thailand * sets out who inherits what upon a Thai citizens death. But that's only in a case where there is no will. In other words the owner of any form of property can override the law by writing a will.

(* At the front of the forums section here on ThaiVisa there a section with a number of Thai laws in English, including the Commercial Code of Thailand.)

 

 

Further, from a translation published by 

https://www.samuiforsale.com/knowledge/inheritance-laws-thailand.html

Inheritance Laws Thailand I Succession Distribution Assets Legal

 

Thai inheritance laws

If you have NOT made a Last Will or Testament, or valid will, the law (intestacy rules) will determine what happens to your assets when you die. Under Thai inheritance laws this generally means that the assets will be distributed amongst the statutory heirs. Under section 1629 of the Civil and Commercial Code of Thailand there are 6 classes of statutory heirs and they are entitled to inherit in the following order:

1. descendants
2. parents
3. brothers and sisters of full blood
4. brothers and sisters of half blood
5. grandparents
6. uncles and aunts
7. The surviving spouse is a statutory heir, subject to the special provisions of Section 1635 Civil and Commercial Code.

Distribution in the absence of a will

Thai inheritance laws designate intestate heirs and so long as there is an heir surviving in one of the classes, the heir of the lower class has no entitlement to share in the assets. The one exception is where there is a descendant and a parent in which case they take an equal share (section 1630). If there is more than one heir in any one class, they take an equal share of the entitlement available to that class. The surviving spouse is a statutory heir but their entitlement depends on what other class of statutory heir exists. If there are surviving children of the deceased, the spouse and children take the estate between them. Therefore, if there are three children, then the estate is divided in to four equal shares.

Legal foreign wills are acceptable in Thai Courts subject to being translated and authorized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the legal procedure to enforce it can take a long time. The execution of a foreign will in Thailand is always subject to a court procedure.

 

Keep in mind that the above applies where the deceased person has NOT made a will.

Where the deceased has made a valid will, the instructions of the deceased, in the will,  overrides/cancels the entitlements set out in the Thai Commercial code.

 

[spornb]

15 hours ago, scorecard said:

 

And keep in mind who now legally/officially owns the land and the houses, therefore who can legally indicate who inherits the land and the buildings (and all other items, vehicles, and whatever). 

 

Assuming that you are not a Thai citizen you cannot own land, therefore you can't give the land to anybody verbally or in a will, because you don't own it.

 

That assumes the land title documents are in your wife's name, therefore it is your wife who must (in a will) indicate you gets the land. 

 

As already said the Commercial code of Thailand * sets out who inherits what upon a Thai citizens death. But that's only in a case where there is no will. In other words the owner of any form of property can override the law by writing a will.

 

Further:

Thai children (under 20 years old) can be included as beneficiaries in a Thai will. 

Thai children (under 20 years old) can be the owners of land and buildings. Their names can be put on chanuts (Land Title documents). 

Thai children includes luk krueng children (Mother is a Thai citizen, father is a foreigner, and opposite.)  

 

The above can be children of any age up to 20 years old. On 20th birthday they are officially adults.

 

 

(* At the front of the forums section here on ThaiVisa there a section with a number of Thai laws in English, including the Commercial Code of Thailand.)

 

 

There is a dangerous amount of incorrect information, I am but a simple retired UK Chartered Accountant

Some points a foreigner can inherit land but not own it long term

If will in both Thai and English then it also has to be stated which language takes precedence in the event of dispute

 

May I suggest if you need major surgery do not allow Thai visas members to do it

 

If You require legal advice go to a properly qualified lawyer, and Yes most responsible people should have a will and executors and trustees, unless they are very conversant with the laws of intestacy, and for their own reasons do not wish to make a will, and there are some circumstances when this may be appropriate, but even before going this route a lawyers advice in WRITING should be sought

[chrisandsu]

A friend of mine just recently lost his common law wife  , they had bought the house through a bank loan that he was paying from his home country and paid the 6 million baht off in 4 years and only had another 500 k to go .... well she died suddenly the life insurance paid off the remainder of the loan. The house and the 1.5 million baht suv went to the 14 year old son who’s dad came down from essarn to Phuket to stake his claim . He drove back to essarn in my friends car cleaned out the jewelry that was in the house and sold the house for peanuts . All this while my friend couldn’t get into Thailand due to covid . At a minimum he’s about 10 million baht out of pocket and couldn’t do a thing about it . So yes get it legally drawn up !! 

[Heng]

If you're not going through a lawyer for your will, be sure you write it by hand.   Don't just type one up and sign it.